Jasmatuph Creations press release for "Preserving Efforts
Vol. 01" describes this DVD as "a project two years in the making." Damn son, some Hollywood movies come and
go from theaters and are out on DVD in retail outlets in HALF that time. What accounts
for the large amount of time that was put into putting this project together?

For a start it's how carefully chosen the hip-hop videos on this DVD are. "Preserving Efforts" reflects
a global perspective on hip-hop, so this is not a compilation of things you'll see in rotation on Direct
Effect or 106 & Park. In fact you probably wouldn't even see these videos on whatever the Australian,
Canadian and British equivalents of those television shows are. It's not as though you won't be able
to understand the rhymes to these beats, because everything's busted out in english, but the accents
may at times throw you a curve. In fairness there are some New York heads who feel the same way about
the Dirty South or vice versa, so your mileage may vary. One could even argue that "Down for Nothin"
by the Living Legends, a well-known and long-standing Cali rap family, has fatter accents in their
flows than the Australian team of Bliss N Eso on "Then Till Now." Other names you'll recognize include
the Brooklynite via Boston flows of Guru on "Hood Dreamin," underground favorite Murs doing his
classic "H-U-S-T-L-E" and the inellectually stimulating raps of Slug on Atmosphere's "Say Hey There."

It's not merely beats and rhymes that are being PRESERVED on this DVD though, because
if that was their goal a fat compilation CD could have been put out instead, one which would get high
marks for the quality of the songs and international flavor of the artists chosen. It's fair to say
that Pete Philly & Perquisite's "Grateful" can hang with any of these tracks even though their
rap comes straight out of The Netherlands, but it's equally impressive how distinctive the music video
that accompanies it is. The images are in stark black and white - a piano being played, a cello being
bowed, an MC sitting at a desk with a pen and a pad, and suddenly a colorfully sung hook brings a
rainbow of visualization into the situation. It's hard to explain just how refreshing this song and
composition are, which is one long "thank you" to everybody that means something not only in the
artist's life but your own, all through the metaphor of a hand-delivered mixtape. As noteworthy as
"Grateful" is it's certainly not the exception on "Preserving Efforts," but rather the rule. These
songs and accompanying videos express equal levels of creativity, becoming epic mini-movies that run
the gamut of experiences. The Optimen's "Give it Up" plays like a harrowing tale of crime and
punishment with police agents who seem to be straight out of The Matrix, with the protagonist
having only a microphone to defend himself with. "Say Hey There" plays like a movie as well, only
one in which Slug is a reluctant actor uncomfortable with playing the part who would rather say fuck
it and go "On the Run" with Kool G. Rap in the cassette deck.

Everything about this compilation makes sense even if it's not apparent to the viewer exactly how
these artists and videos were chosen from looking at the DVD jacket. You can take my word for it
though that Def Tex's "Freaks" is just as relevant as Tzu's "Dam Busters" as is Wordburglar's "The
Wordburglar," even though they go all around the world from England to Australia to Canada. In
fact what they have in common despite these disparate backgrounds and differing musical approaches
is their common love for hip-hop music and culture, which is really what "Preserving Efforts" is
all about. The two years spent acquiring, compiling, and organizing these music videos, with all
the record label and director's rights that needed to be secured, was time and money well spent
even if Jasmatuph Creations doesn't make a profit in the end; that's because the title of the DVD
is a perfect description of what they've achieved here. The efforts of some of hip-hop's best
audio and visual architects have been preserved on this set for future generations, so that their
efforts will not have been in vain. If you want to see hip-hop's creativity expressed at the
highest possible levels, you owe it to yourself to track down a copy of this release.